This invention relates in general to the handling of mail and, in particular, to an improved forwarding address system for use with mail sorting machines.
The volume of mail handled daily by large businesses, institutions and governmental entities has steadily increased through the years. For example, credit card companies, utilities, mail order houses and other advertisers send and receive huge quantities of mail daily. Typically, the envelopes containing the material to be mailed are addressed and then sorted into common groups for mailing. Similarly, mail received by such entities is commonly sorted into groups based the subject matter of the received material. A third category of such envelopes are the returned mail category the creation of which is primarily due to the addressee having moved from a particular address resulting in the envelope being undeliverable. The present invention is a system directed to the solution of this latter type of problem, namely, the correction of the address by application of a secondary label to the envelope with the correct forwarding address that will permit its proper delivery.
Several different types of machines have been developed to assist in the handling of such mail, other than manual review and correction by the individual mail carrier. These prior art devices typically comprised an envelope feeder, a read station, a selection of label station where a supply of labels permitted selection of an appropriate label and its application to an envelope, and a sorting and storage means.
None of these prior art machines and systems proved satisfactory since they were large unwieldy machines that required not only a large amount of space but also required frequent replenishment of a vast array of pre-printed label supplies and applicating equipment.
The present invention provides a unique computer-operator controlled system with a plurality of unique stations that are suitable for use with conventional mail sorting machines.
The contemplated system includes a feeder module having a unique envelope feeder apparatus wherein incoming envelopes are separated from each other and delivered to a transport module. The unique transport module moves the envelope or document to a plurality of read stations that are provided with a single CRT and input keyboard means tied to a main computer data source for use and control by an operator. Observation of indicia by the operator and selective input into the keyboard means results in an electable response by the operator, the elected information then being sent to a unique print module for use in creation of an appropriate corrective label. The envelopes that pass through the read station are serially moved through a unique labeler module that utilizes the serially produced labels emanating from the print module. The corrected envelopes are then sorted in a known sorting machine by use of the same information that controlled the creation of a label in the printer module.
The system further includes a feeder module having means whereby a stack of envelopes or documents are maintained in an upright edgewise orientation and are fanned outwardly from one another to permit movement of individual envelopes, regardless of thickness, into the nip of the shifting rollers located at one end of the feeder module for lateral movement to the next station where the operator is located. By having the feeder module extending perpendicular to the balance of the machine the operator can be positioned adjacent to it and readily handle problems, if any, that might arise at his elbow.
Additionally, ;he system includes a unique transport module having a plurality of stations in each of which the operator has an unobstructed view of the entire front surface of the envelope while reading the address or other identifying data thereon. Once the address or zip code has been read by the operator, the operator makes a codified entry which is processed by the computer, with which the machine is associated, and into which computer the changes of address have been introduced on a frequent periodic basis. If the limited information code introduced by the operator is applicable to more than one individual addressee, alternatives will be displayed to the operator for the operator to choose from. The information so chosen is then forwarded to the next module and the envelope or document released for movement out of the operators visual range serially into the next module.
Another object of the present system is the provision of a unique label printing module that utilizes a dot matrix type print head that moves the material to be printed upon into contact with an ink source in accordance with the impulse information provided by the computer. The labels so produced are then moved to the labeler module which is designed to remove the substrate or backing material from the label and to move the label in the same direction as the movement of the envelopes to enhance the effectiveness of its application to a particular chosen envelope.
A further object of the system is to provide an effective labeler module for rapid application of a ore-printed self-adhesive label to a predetermined envelope or document for which it has been prepared and to effectively and rapidly remove the backing material from said label before its application to the envelope.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a document forwarding system of the type contemplated that includes these improved modules within the system that will reliably operate over extended time parameters with minimal down times, as well as being relatively simple and economical to construct and operate.
Other and further objects of this invention together with all of the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.